At long last Stihl has decided to relax it’s online purchasing restrictions in response to ‘Changes in the retail marketplace over recent years’ !

You have finally got there. Unsure if this is driven by falling sales, increases in competitor market share or customer demand but for years professional contractors have looked at this policy, shaken heads and sighed ......

I always considered a tool safety talk as standard when making a new purchase in my dealers showroom . well not so much now lol but certainly when first starting out , chokes , throttles and correct mixing demonstrations were essential , doing anything incorrectly could cause harm or invalidate a warranty .

I suppose cordless technology has changed everything so to be able to buy off the shelf and have it shipped now makes sense , perhaps the showroom dealers role is changing .

I have just seen the change in the marketplace for myself on a trip to a local garden centre.

There is a display of Stihl branded power tools for DIY gardeners without training and experience of using the equipment that is for sale which includes a Stihl cordless chainsaw.

I may be wrong, but I doubt the garden centre has a member of staff who has the knowledge and experience to determine if the sale of a chainsaw to a particular customer is appropriate or to give them a safety briefing.

Also there didn't seem to to be any spares available such as replacement chains.

So I presume that to open up the marketplace Stihl are now selling DIY power tools that up until now have only been available through their established dealers in garden centres and the like that don't have the staff or stock of spares to continue with their existing "safety" policy and that it may result in a bit of a anything goes situation.

In the same garden centre no doubt diy gardeners will be able to purchase as much weedkiller as they can carry and apply it wherever they choose without training .

Come christmas the garden centre staff will be stocking the shelves with fairy lights and artificial christmas tree's .

No doubt A&E will be full of casualities all year round who have sustained injuries while out gardening or sawing up logs for the log burner . I am sure i read somewhere that lawn mowers killed more people in USA than guns .

Years ago people sustained injuries accidently cutting through their black and decker electric cable but they could at least take sensible precautions .

A member of the public can buy a chainsaw in screwfix , even argos without a license , kick back in chainsaws is a bit unpredictable and can cause serious injuries even result in death but while it's not Stihls responsibility to act as garden police surely there should be some restrictions in place to stop people causing themselves harm especially with the popularity of log burners .

If the garden centre sells the chainsaw, but not spare parts such as replacement chains customers will then want to be able to go online and order what they want for delivery.

They would of course be better served buying everything from a dealer with stock who can ensure they get the correct equipment and advice, rather from a garden centre that will sell them a new dress along with a steak and kidney pie, which were in amongst our purchases today.

In context if you can purchase a chainsaw in an outllet with the same casualness as you can a steak and kidney pie then yes it seems bizzarre but assuming its the little Stihl 12 inch cordless does this make a difference .?

I remember working in a garden when i was approached by an anxious guy who informed me there was a bee's nest in the hedge next to the footpath , I tried to persuade him they were simply going about their business gathering pollen but he had a different take on the matter and screamed at me bee's are highly dangerous and advised me to take action immediately

Was i irresponsible to then tell him not all bee's are highly dangerous and to just walk on the other side of the road

A chap who was looking at the tools in the garden centre with his wife spoke to me and I passed comment about Stihl relaxing their “not selling sharp things to people without a chat policy” and the lady passed comment that “it’s only a battery operated chainsaw” I said it doesn’t matter what is making the chain spin around it will still cut you.

I sure any relaxing of this policy is to be able to bring a new range of Stihl branded DIY tools to the market rather than making life easier for trained professionals.

But as pointed out above there are many makes of chainsaws that have been available to all for many years from other manufacturers and stores, so they aren’t doing anything that is not already considered acceptable.

Being realistic here, it was never anything to do with safety......... it was Stihl trying to support their dealer network so they could sell items over the counter and keep businesses "ticking over" nicely. It hasn't worked and Stihl are losing out.......... the dealers will end up holding stock for display only.... when you want an item from a dealer, he'll have to order it in for you but you'll pay more for that as hte dealer will only be purchasing in very small numbers..... the majority of people will just order it online from places like World of Power or F R Jones where they can get it next day at a cheaper price....... who can blame them?

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